There are occasions when it is desirable or necessary to obtain a small specimen of a liquid from a location which is difficult to reach. Important examples of such instances are found in the diagnosis of various diseases, infections and other ailments of the human body. While instruments of various types have been employed in the past to collect samples for medical analysis they have, in general, been of a permanent type requiring sterilization after each use. The modern tendency is to employ instruments which may be used once and discarded so as to avoid the high cost of assembly, sterilization, and repackaging to maintain the sterile condition.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a nonreusable aspirator designed to collect small specimens of liquid samples, particularly from the human body. It is a particular object of this invention to provide such an instrument for use in collecting liquid samples from the middle ear. Otitis media is a middle ear infection which is extremely common and manifests itself with the presence of fluid in the middle ear. This fluid may be serous, purulent, or mucoid and may arise as a result of several different circumstances or etiologies. In order to properly treat the patient it is important to collect a sample of the fluid and analyze it. The present invention involves a simple, inexpensive apparatus which can be employed to collect such a fluid into a sample vial which can then be sent for suitable analysis and the entire apparatus thrown away.